The Assembly, Sodium Bonding and Inspection of Ebr-Ii Blanket Rods

Abstract

The Experimental Pmer Breeder Reactor', Em-11, i s a heterogeneous, unmoderat ed, sodim-cooled reactor t o provide engineering m d operational information a2plicable t o Rzll scale cen-kral-st,ation nuclear power plants. The enricheg uranium-fissium alloy fuel i s blanketed with depleted unzlloJre3 urslniuin i n type 304 stainless steel tubes.t h e r e l a t i v e location of f u e l m d blanket components.center temperature f o r blarket slugs adjacent t o t h e f' ?Je!-i s 6 0 0 "~ and t h e surface -C,emperaku-e i s 520°C.annulus between t h e uranim! and t h e tube wall.via t h e sodium, no voids, mbonde5, or non-wetted areas grezter than 1/16" i n any direction can be tolerated. tained t o insure complete coverage of t h e uranium i n t h e event t h a t radi6tlon damage t o t h e slug material should cause dimensional changes with a resultant length increase and t o allow space f o r t h e expansion of t h e sodium and .;he collect i o n of released f i s s i o n gases. ~J O different types of blanket rods were produced a s described in Table I and sho-m in Figures 2 and 3.An elevation t h r o a t h e reactor core, Figure 1, showsThe m~xmum calculated Soilium m t a 1 i s u t i l i z e d as a heat t r a n s f e r m e d i u m i n t h eTo insure adequate heat t r a n s f e r An exacting sodium f i l l height must also be mainAll loading operations were perfomed i n an atmosphere of 90 v/o argon-10 v/o helium, which was a l s o t h e atmosphere surrounding t h e compression spring above t h e sodium et t h e t o p of each rod. The work was performed i n a glove box, shown. i n Figure 4, which was designed t o permit four operators working simulteneously t o extrude t h e necessary sodium, load, and cap 21.6 rods per day.fabricated with an extruded and welded aluminum angle frame, safety glass windows